


What Happens Next?

by yahootoldyou



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, M/M, ahsoka never leaves the jedi au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-24 18:13:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14360889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yahootoldyou/pseuds/yahootoldyou
Summary: Anakin… Anakin wouldn’t…Artoo bumps into her legs, beeping lowly. Ahsoka lowers to one knee.Something isn’t right with Anakin,he warns her and she chokes back a sob, not realizing she’s crying until the tears land on Artoo’s dome, streaking down, cleaning him of soot and ash in little curvy lines in their wake.Anakin wouldn’t, but Anakindid.There was no other explanation. He was the Sith Lord’s apprentice. He was aSith.OR: Ahsoka never leaves the Order. Order 66 still happens.





	1. Chapter 1

Ahsoka stares in horror as ash and smoke fills the Coruscanti air, Padmé’s reassuring hand on her shoulder non-existent in her mind as she locates the source of the smoke. 

_The Jedi Temple._

The temple burns on the horizon, a quickly forming black hole in the force that screams out in agony. She almost wants to childishly cover her ears even if she knows it’ll do her no good. 

She turns to look at Padmé in fear, but the pregnant woman has brought her other hand up to her mouth, her lips pursed as tears gather in her eyes. Ahsoka can’t tell if she’s worried for Anakin or if she has the same bad feeling Ahsoka does. 

Her stomach flips over and over, twisted in knots she’ll live with forever. 

“I have to go,” Ahsoka breathes but Padmé’s grip tightens and she looks at the teen in horror. 

“Anakin made me promise to keep you here and there’s _no way_ I’m letting you near that carnage,” she mumbles, her gaze turning back to the temple and becoming glassy. Ahsoka wants to argue, wants to point out for the hundredth time that Padmé isn’t her mother and that Anakin will only be her master for a little while longer. 

Her make-shift parents will no longer be responsible for her the way they feel they are now. Ahsoka feels along her bond with Anakin, feeling a block on the end she’s never experienced. He’s been… different lately. After her case where she’d almost left the order, she’d been moved that much closer to knighthood, the council seeing the case as her trial of spirit. 

Their relationship became that much closer, but Anakin kept her at a new distance, one that had never existed before. Her decision to stay had been a difficult one, but she knew that leaving would hurt her loved ones in ways she can’t even describe. She had thought he’d be happy, but her master looks at her now as if she is something precious yet untouchable, something he can’t allow himself to love. 

_It hurts._

And now the blocked end of their bond? She doesn’t understand whats happening. 

“Is he… Do you know if he’s okay?” Padmé asks and for a moment, Ahsoka immediately goes to answer, but in light of the last few weeks and the revelations that came with them, she doesn’t know if she means Anakin or Obi-Wan. 

“Which one?” She goes to clarify and Padmé brings her hands to her face, the warmth of the hand that had been touching Ahsoka’s shoulder leaving and taking the heat with it. The wind on Coruscant feels bone chillingly cold tonight despite the fire she watches in the distance. Ash begins falling, whipped in the air and sucked around as speeders fly by. She catches a piece of it in her hands, wondering what part of her home this is, wondering if it’s a person. 

Padmé is crying softly next to her, tears slipping through her fingers, her curls draped over her shoulder. Ahsoka looks at her and then back at the temple. They were _married._ All three of them. It was normal on Naboo and they had secretly been married since the beginning of the Clone Wars. She should’ve known, has seen all of the signs between the three of them, but willfully didn’t. 

It is her duty as a Jedi to report to the council. It is her duty as a daughter, sister, friend to keep this a secret. She has been battling with these halves of herself for weeks, but it seems the decision has been made for her. The temple is burning, the council more than likely dying with the rest of the Jedi screaming in the force. 

“Is Anakin okay?” Padmé asks and Ahsoka startles. She turns her blue eyes back to the woman’s face, a woman who suddenly looks so young. For the first time since Ahsoka’s known her, the woman looks like the twenty-seven she is, young and in love and terrified. 

“He’s alive and seems to be fine, but he’s shielding from me,” she explains and Padmé’s brows crease. 

“Does he usually do that?” She wonders aloud and Ahsoka swallows around the lump in her throat. 

“Not with this sort of bond… He’s blocking Obi-Wan and I out quite deliberately,” Ahsoka mumbles and Padmé’s face becomes even more worried. 

_Which of us are you keeping out, Anakin? Obi-Wan? Me? Both?_

“And Obi-Wan?” She asks, not as an after thought, but wanting to know he hasn’t returned to the temple yet. 

“He’s on his way back to Coruscant, I think, but I’m going to warn him off for the time being. Someone is killing Jedi and he’ll be better off coming when the temple isn’t actively being attacked,” Ahsoka says, wrapping a hand around Padmé’s wrist. 

_Master?_

_Ahsoka? What’s going on?_ His presence is anxious, the force graying with his worry. She drags Padmé inside, sitting down on one of her lavish couches and feeling the woman settle next to her. Padmé knows not to interrupt, that Ahsoka is conversing with her master. 

_The Jedi Temple has been attacked. I don’t know where Anakin is… He’s shielding, but he’s okay._

_I’m coming, Ahsoka._

_No! Master, you can’t! Come to Padmé’s if you must come into the atmosphere, but the temple isn’t safe right now._

_I… I have-_

_Obi-Wan, please. Your wife and unborn children are here. Come here, there’s nothing you can do. …It’s too late._ She can feel his anguish and squeezes tears out of her eyes. 

_I’m coming._ He disconnects and she exhales heavily, leaning back and looking up at Padmé with moist eyes. Five years ago the three adults closest to her had felt just like that, they had felt like adults. It’s a harsh realization for her that they are younglings hardened by conflict and war just like she herself is. 

_We are too young for this, for all of this suffering._ They sit in silence, the air beginning to taste faintly of smoke. 

“Mistress Padmé! Master Anakin has returned,” Threepio warbles, rushing into the room with that funny run of his. Ahsoka is on her feet in seconds, facing the door as her Master rushes through it, his eyes falling on his heavily pregnant wife before he rushes to her, scooping her up into his arms. 

“Are you alright?” Padmé strokes his hair out of his face, her eyes wide and Ahsoka feels as though she’s intruding, “There was an attack on the Jedi Temple, you can see the smoke from here-“

“I’m fine,” he reassures her, hands on her waist as he brings his forehead down to press against hers, “Im fine. I came to see if you and the baby are safe.” His tone indicates he wants her to calm, but something about him feels off. Ahsoka’s eyes narrow as she watches him from across the room. Artoo rolls over, beeping at her even as Threepio shushes him. 

_Ahsoka, there’s something wrong,_ he says and she nods. There is something very wrong. Something Anakin isn’t telling them. She wants to ask Artoo if he’s noticed a change in Anakin since they rescued Palpatine, but decides against it. Anakin is right across the room and probably wouldn’t appreciate them gossiping about him. 

She hears Padmé ask what’s happening as she thinks, but it’s Anakin’s response that truly shocks her. 

“The Jedi have tried to overthrow the Republic,” he declares, his eyes finally meeting Ahsoka’s, daring her to disagree, “I witnessed Master Windu try to assassinate the Chancellor myself.” Ahsoka wisely says nothing, pressing a hand over her mouth and closing her eyes. 

_Something is wrong, something is so so very wrong…_

“Oh, Anakin. What are you going to do?” Padmé gasps out and Ahsoka exhales, panic settling into her bones. She suddenly has a horrible thought as she finally smells the air around her. Anakin… Anakin smells like smoke. 

_He’s been to the temple. But Anakin wouldn’t… He wouldn’t, right?_

She watches her master, her brother turn and face away from them and when he speaks, his voice is deep, determined, “I will not betray the Republic. My loyalties lie with the Chancellor, and with the Senate, and with you.” He speaks directly to his wife now, almost ignoring Ahsoka entirely. She can feel her heart pounding, threatening not only to break, but to explode. 

“What about Obi-Wan?” Padmé asks and Anakin’s brows crease for the first time, his gaze breaking to look at the ground. 

“He will understand and if he doesn’t… I won’t let anyone else hurt him, Padmé. He will be with us,” he promises and Ahsoka is horrified. The way he phrased it so precise. Anyone else… Anybody but Anakin. Ahsoka looks down at Artoo and then up at Threepio, feeling like a fly on the wall during a conversation she really doesn’t want to be hearing. 

“Anakin, I’m afraid,” Padmé admits and Ahsoka is too, but Anakin is calm and collected in a scary way. Ahsoka feels as though if this were a holodrama, creepy ominous music would be playing. 

“Have faith, My Love, everything will soon be set right. I’m going to Mustafar to end this war,” he mumbles before finally looking up at Ahsoka. 

“Come on, Ahsoka, you and Artoo are with me,” he orders, spinning on his heal, his cloak spinning around him. Ahsoka’s feet move without her permission, following her Master even as the force cries around her. Artoo lets out a low, sorrowful beep and Ahsoka relates. 

Everything about this feels like an ending. 

Anakin gives her the coordinates before opening the hatch to climb into his fighter. She does the same, hearing Anakin ask Padmé to wait at her apartment for them to return. She closes her hatch watching Anakin take off and takes one last look at Padmé, waving goodbye. The woman smiles sadly back at her, waving in return. Ahsoka watches Threepio approach the woman before she too takes towards the sky and jets out of the system. 

She’s surprised to see Anakin hasn’t waited for her to be next to him before entering hyperspace, but she probably shouldn’t be. Again, her conscious warns her that something is wrong, but she settles in for a nap, emotionally exhausted. 

When she awakens her ship is beeping to alert her they’ve exited hyperspace. Here, Anakin’s starfighter waits patiently. 

“Are you ready?” He asks over the com and Ahsoka nods, knowing he can see her. His mouth is set in a grim line as he enters the hot atmosphere of Mustafar, the planet on fire. It looks like she feels, burnt and full of death. The force feels empty, most of the Jedi dead by now. 

Not Anakin though, and not her or Obi-Wan. That feels… very deliberate. 

She sets her ship down, opening the hatch and climbing out. She doesn’t have an astromech with her at the moment, not taking one from the temple before she went to Padmé’s apartment. Anakin’s eyes bore into hers as he decides something. 

“Stay here with Artoo until I give you a signal,” he says, his voice still too deep. Ahsoka nods again, not wanting to argue while he’s like this. She’s alone for only a minute when something occurs to her. 

He hasn’t asked if she’s okay, if she agrees with this. More than likely because he doesn’t want her answer, but he’s very pointedly avoided conversing with her, making everything a command. And he’s still shielding…

Master Obi-Wan said he thought the Sith was in the Senate and involved with Chancellor Palpatine… But what if the Sith is Chancellor Palpatine himself? He would be on the market for a new apprentice. 

But, Anakin… _Anakin wouldn’t…_

Artoo bumps into her legs, beeping lowly. Ahsoka lowers to one knee. 

_Something isn’t right with Anakin,_ he warns her and she chokes back a sob, not realizing she’s crying until the tears land on Artoo’s dome, streaking down, cleaning him of soot and ash in little curvy lines in their wake. 

Anakin wouldn’t, but Anakin _did._ There was no other explanation. He was the Sith Lord’s apprentice. He was a _Sith._

“Artoo, will you come with me? I’m not the repairwoman Anakin is, but… But I’m not sure he’s Anakin anymore,” she admits and Artoo sadly beeps again. He seems to think for a moment before responding. 

_I would like to go with you,_ he declares, _I do not wish to serve Darth Vader._

_Darth Vader? Is that who Anakin is now?_ Sorrow takes hold of her for a moment, threatening to drown her and she chokes audibly, pressing her forehead to Artoo’s dome and crying. They have to get off Mustafar before he finishes whatever it is he’s doing in there. 

“All right, hop in. We’re taking Anakin’s fighter,” she orders him, hopping into Anakin’s seat. The clones won’t shoot Anakin’s fighter, it’s the safest place for her to be at the moment until she can contact Obi-Wan. She lifts the ship in the air, blocking the end of her bond with Anakin on her end so if he opens his he still won’t be able to find her. 

He must be distracted, swallowed by the dark side, because he doesn’t even notice her exit. She flies out of the atmosphere, feeling Obi-Wan’s presence approach.

_Master?_ She asks, throwing it out in the force as far she can, hoping they’re close enough. 

_Ahsoka? What’s happening, did he hurt you?_ Obi-Wan asks and the reality of the situation settles in her bones. Obi-Wan knows, was probably on his way to confront Anakin and end all of this. 

_We have to go, Master. You won’t get through to him now,_ she pleads, _for your wife. Get her to safety._ She feels the conflict in Obi-Wan, but she thinks he will see reason. Suddenly, she feels his panic. 

_The children have made the decision for us… Meet us at Polis Massa._ He then disconnects, going to tend to Padmé. 

“Set new coordinates for Polis Massa, Artoo,” she requests and he warbles out an affirmative, sending the ship into hyperspace. They will arrive in about an hour. 

_What happens next?_ Artoo asks behind her and she sets her eyes on the stars, willing herself not to think about it. 

“…I don’t know, Artoo. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”


	2. Chapter 2

**TATOOINE, 10 YEARS LATER**

 

Ahsoka and a newly painted Artoo move down a corridor of Jaba’s Palace. The rumor is that Darth Vader is here to negotiate on behalf of the Empire. Artoo beeps out a cautious noise, Ahsoka scoffing under her breath. 

“Obviously I know this is dangerous, Artoo. But if he senses them we need to distract him and fast. Just hope that if that happens, we’re enough.” Artoo beeps again, agreeing with her and she rolls her eyes. This droid has quickly become her best friend, but he is sassy. She peers around the corner, keeping herself impeccably shielded. She’s changed more than she realizes over the last four years, she knows. 

Being twenty-seven and living in hiding are so much different then being seventeen and a Jedi. Darth Vader stands there in the room, tall in front of Jaba, his mouth pulled into a snarl. She gasps, quickly bringing her hand up to cover her mouth. 

She remembers standing here with Anakin Skywalker what seems like a lifetime ago, newly his padawan and desperate to prove herself to him. He had ordered her around like a burden, something he didn’t want there. Things had gotten better between them quickly following that mission, Anakin accepting her and loving her like a sister. The annoying little sister he had never wanted. 

The man before her looks so different from who he had been the last time they stood there, but the same still. His hair is longer the edges slicked with gel a bit, a new scar running along his cheek just lower than the one on his eyebrow that had always been there. His robes are clean, a slick ink black and well fitted. He looks like her brother, but she knows he is a stranger. 

_What are you staring at? Is he here?_ Artoo asks and Ahsoka shushes him, nodding. She looks down at him to whisper something, but Artoo shrieks, wheeling backwards. Ahsoka mistakenly watches him for a minute before looking back to see the cause. 

Darth Vader carries on as if nothing has happened, perhaps not hearing the screech of a too familiar astromech. She watches him, but his face never falters once as he debates with Jaba. She breathes a sigh of relief when he turns to make his exit. Spinning on her heel, she quickly makes her way up the corridor, finding Artoo around a corner. 

“Why’d you have to do a thing like that?” She asks him when he asks why she didn’t run with him. He swivels his dome, shrieking that Vader had seen him, how hadn’t she been caught. He had feared the worst for a second but hadn’t heard any commotions.

“He didn’t seem to know we were there,” she muses and Artoo swears again that Vader looked right at him. Its then that Ahsoka knows its a trap. Vader wants her to lead him to his spouses. She bends down, looking Artoo in his eye and placing her palms against his dome. 

“You have to trust me little one, we are going on an adventure now,” she says and Artoo lets out a mournful beep. 

“Yes, we’re leaving. But someday soon we’ll be back. We just have to lose Vader first.” She whispers her plan to him quickly before they make a run for it. Artoo wheels behind her, but she picks him up with the force, carrying him along with her. Her green lightsabers cry on her waist, knowing she will fight Anakin. They mourn, Artoo mourns, but Ahsoka will not. 

Anakin is a grown up. He has made his choices. She will not mourn them when he does not. 

She breaks out into the heat of the dry Tatooine air, rushing right past the stormtroopers. She can hear them yelling, but ignores them. 

“We need a ship!” She yells and Artoo beeps that he has a friend in one of the cantinas that he chats with sometimes when he goes with “Ben.” _His name is Chewbacca and he has a human male friend whose ship we can hitch a ride on._

“All right but we have to make sure Vader sees us and follows us. We can’t leave him on planet with Obi-Wan, Padmé, and the twins.” Artoo mocks her for a moment, hissing out a vicious _duh._ She rolls her eyes, following the droids directions to where this Chewbacca’s ship is docked. 

She can feel his presence, his eye in the force following her movements and then drops her shields enough that he can feel her location. Their bond is weak from years of blocked ends and disuse, but its there and she can feel it flaring to life from proximity. 

_Good,_ she thinks as she enters the area, following Artoo’s frantic beeps of _left! Right! Ahsoka, that way!_

Eventually they enter an area where a freighter older than her sits. She looks it up and down, knowing they don’t have a lot of time or options. Artoo drops beside her, her grip on him in the force lessening as she gazes skyward. The droid curses before rolling over to a wookie and a young human male. He can’t be that much younger than her, but still… He looks like a baby. 

She can feel Vader approaching as she watches Artoo communicate with the wookie from afar. The male seems disinterested and then outraged when Chewbacca informs them that they will be offering transport to Ahsoka and Artoo. 

“Hey now, I’m not just shipping these two randoms anywhere they wanna go-“ Chewbacca roars, interrupting him, to which the boy scowls, “Fine. But they better compensate us.” Ahsoka almost wants to say that they definitely will not be compensating them. Other than the fact that she has no money, all of their credits back with Ben and May, she doesn’t like the attitude on this boy. 

They enter the old freighter and Ahsoka does her best to make it appear as though there is more than one force sensitive on the ship, hoping Anakin will follow her off planet. As the ship leaves the atmosphere she discreetly checks his movements, happy to see he is following. 

He will no doubt have a heavier presence on Tatooine to see if Obi-Wan and Padmé are there, but she’ll warn them as soon as she can and they can handle stormtroopers. 

“We’re going to Alderaan. ‘Work for you?” The boy doesn’t even look at her when he asks so she only grunts in response. Alderaan is a good one, Anakin will think that is a place Padmé and Obi-Wan might’ve hid, them being friends with the sovereign rulers. When the ship launches into hyperspace, the pilot chair swings around, giving her a closer look at the boy who has offered them his ship, albeit unwillingly. 

“So what’s your story? You don’t look like a scoundrel or a bounty hunter, so I don’t know why you’d be on Tatooine of all places,” the boy asks and she looks him in the eye. The boy is… cute, roguish in a way someone else might find attractive. 

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m on the run from the Empire,” she declares, confident in Artoo’s judgement of Chewbacca and his comrade. The boy looks at her in awe. 

“Me too,” he admits, a look of admiration coming over him, “I’m Han. Han Solo, Captain of the Millennium Falcon.” She looks him up and down before smiling once at him. 

“Ahsoka Tano, former Jedi and current fugitive.” Artoo warns her not to be too blunt with the boy incase she scares him, but to her surprise, the boy just laughs. She quirks an eyebrow at him, but Han just laughs before finally stopping, looking at her like she’s crazy. 

“…You’re not _serious_ , are you? The Jedi don’t exist!” He insists and she just whistles, ignoring Artoo’s huff of exasperation. He shoots both of her sabers into the air from his hiding place for them. Ahsoka catches them both easily, igniting her dominant hand’s, the green blade extending out to the side, carefully avoiding their pilot. Han gawks, looking over at Chewbacca who just shakes his head at his human companion. Chewbacca knows the Jedi exist no doubt about it, he…

She turns to him, shocked, “Chewbacca! Do you remember me?” She asks, referring to when she and the Jedi younglings freed him back during the Clone Wars. He growls out that he does in fact and was waiting for her to remember him so she would be more comfortable. She puts away her blade, hooking it on her belt and standing, going to wrap her arms around the wookie from behind. 

“It is good to see you, Old Friend,” she says, rubbing his furry shoulder before returning to her seat. Han’s jaw is dropped, his shock evident. She smiles at him, hearing Artoo laugh in the background. 

“How did you end up in this position?” Chewbacca asks her as Han blurts out, “You two know each other?” She looks at Han like he’s dumb for a second before pondering how to answer Chewbacca’s question. She figures she might as well start from the beginning. 

 

 

 

**POLIS MASSA, 19 BBY**

 

She watches Obi-Wan rest his face against the transparisteel, Padmé being prepped for birth in the room beyond it. He looks exhausted, his pain soul deep, his grief everlasting. She supposes it may only seem this way for now, Anakin’s betrayal still fresh in all of their hearts. 

“Sir, you can go in when you’re ready, the babies will be here soon,” a droid alerts them and Obi-Wan looks up, his eyes red with unshed tears. Ahsoka wraps her arms around him for a moment before guiding him to the door. 

“I will wait for Yoda, you go be with your wife,” she says, feeling as though she’s aged a century in only a few hours. She watches Obi-Wan Kenobi, infallible general and Jedi walk into the room like it’s the scariest thing he’s ever faced and doing it anyway, because even though he’s facing a future without Anakin, his other half for over ten years now, it’s his wife on the table about to give birth to their children. 

It is now that she realizes there was never a conflict at all between her family and the Jedi. The Jedi were her family too, but she would never betray Obi-Wan, Anakin, or Padmé. Now, she’ll never leave them again. …They’re all she has left. 

Artoo bumps against her legs and she turns, not needing to see human childbirth to add on to her list of visual trauma for the evening, sliding down the wall. Artoo rolls to next to her and she wraps her arms around his dome, slumping down on it. She hopes for sleep, but it evades, not wanting anything to do with the broken girl on the floor. 

Yoda hobbles in, coming to sit next to her on the floor. His stick falls to the way side, his head leans back against the wall. She has now seen the order’s greatest at their lowest points and the glamor of it all is gone. She wants to yell, to scream about how unfair all of it is, but it would be useless. She is a child no longer, grasping for that part of her with a tantrum would do her no good. 

“So sorry, I am, Padawan Tano, for giving you to him,” he mumbles, his voice down to a low octave, so soft she almost can’t hear it. She wants to yell that she is her own person, but she supposes that is a new truth. There is no teacher to her student, she is on her own with her pseudo-parents in shambles about to welcome children to the world. Master Yoda pats her knee. 

“Go, where will you?” He asks and she thinks for a moment, not sure what the correct answer is. She supposes she doesn’t need to impress the grandmaster anymore, but it’s a force of habit. 

“I suppose with them for a while. They will need help with the kids,” she says and he hums, his lips turning down in a frown. She knows he doesn’t approve of Obi-Wan and Padmé, but she doesn’t care any longer. She will help them, they are her family now. 

“And you, Master? Where will you go?” She wonders aloud, watching his ears flatten against his head. He doesn’t seem like he’s going to answer soon, lost within that ancient head of his so she leans back against the wall, patting Artoo again. 

In the background, she can hear Padmé’s cries and wonders if she’ll ever have a chance to let out her pain that way without being judged. Her future is bleak and she, for the first time, doesn’t know where she belongs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this story is going to take place mainly 10 years in the future, with han and chewie playing big roles too! I hope you guys enjoy where I'm taking this, i'll continue to do flashbacks to show what happens immediately after order 66, but i want to explore how this effects ahsoka when she's older, and what roles she takes on in the family. let me know what you guys think of it!

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know if i'll continue this so please comment!! if this gets enough interest I definitely will!


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